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ZoCrowes
Nov 17, 2005

by Lowtax

ZoCrowes posted:

Playing the panicked diver make going out to the quarry on a mucky day worthwhile.

jackyl posted:

Try a torx head screwdriver. I've had luck with delicate stripped heads and that before.

Edit: for diving content, my wife and I are basically recreational divers. We got PADI scuba diver certified in the BVI, finished our open water in Curacao, and then did St Lucia last year. We're doing Turks and Caicos Memorial day week, that's gonna be awesome. I think I am going to start a lot more local diving (Louisville, KY) to increase competency and start moving up the cert ranks, too. I wish we had done this a lot earlier.

Sent you a PM

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Bishop
Aug 15, 2000
Looking through the DM course materials. Not a bad kit actually. All the materials look pretty polished. I don't know what this box labeled "Multilevel recreational dive planner is" but that adds to the excitement! I thought you could always just use a normal table to plan something beyond a square profile. Just have a zero minute surface interval between dives. You also get a rockin PADI tote bag and of course, a "DIVEMASTER" patch. Who actually sews on all the patches that dive agencies give out? Maybe I'll go all hipster on my about to fall apart wetsuit and ironically sew every patch I can find onto it.

Bishop posted:

Crunkjuice wrote a "tips before taking" style post and I wrote a pretty long trip report in the last thread, I'll dig it up when I get home this afternoon.
Some advice from crunkjuice

quote:

Strip all the dangly poo poo (i doubt you have any) off your rig. Active panic diver will probably wrestle the poo poo out of you once and i've seen people lose stuff. You won't need lights or anything.
When you're towing people, don't overinflate their BCD's as they tend to roll, especially with back inflates. Inflate em just enough to keep em buoyant.
When your demonstrating rescue breaths, watch where your support hand pinches the nose (if your not using a mask), as you can drip water into their mouths and cause more problems. I don't think thats in the rescue class, but my instructor hounded me on it.
Make sure you count out loud synchronizing with your kick cycles towing. It helps a lot to set up a routine. While your kicking, your counting and unclipping stuff. On the last few counts, you give them breaths. Repeat. Its better than trying to count in your head and sprint back to shore.

From when I took it:
Trip Report: PADI Rescue Diver

I've decided I want to start divemastering some classes and eventually doing some teaching so I'm starting to work my way up the PADI ranks. I've been AOW for 12 years or so, and the next step is Rescue. I had heard good things, by far the most commmon one being "I love DM'ing for it". There were three of us students. Me, the smug tech diver, An experienced cop who knows how to handle an emergency and has also done a ton of body recoveries in the water, and a dude who I think is relatively new to diving but wants to "live the dream" and go pro while he is still young. Overall we made for a good class. Our instructor was very good. He's been teaching PADI since the mid 90s and is also a cave diver and all of that good stuff.

Day 1 was about a 6 hour class session on Friday night. We covered all the textbook stuff. Handling a panicked diver, getting EMS on the scene, and controlling the situation were all covered in theory. The idea of "not becoming the second victim" was covered but not as much as I expected. We also discussed a lot of hypothetical situations that would apply to the diving that each of us did.

Days 2 took place at the quarry. I spent this day in a jacket BC and single tank. We spent most of the day practicing skills in a "controlled environment". For example, the instructor would pretend to be a panicked diver and we would take turns trying to calm him down. We also practiced bringing unconscious (IMO dead 99% of the time) divers from the bottom and giving them rescue breaths while getting them to the shore. We also did tired diver tows, practiced various underwater search patterns. Only one "surprise" was pulled on us this day.

Day 3 took place at the cursed quarry of death. I did this day in my tech rig but I left my expensive poo poo like my computer and can light off because I did not want someone to pull them off of me. Our Instructor got to watch everything from shore to judge us because 2 other instructors and 4 divemasters showed up to practice diving and also participate in loving with us. To paraphrase one of the DMs afterwards, "we lost a lot of good men today". The premise is that it's just a normal day of diving and poo poo could start to go wrong at any time or place. Arguably our class had it a little harder because a lot of the people were in doubles and thus harder to drag onto shore and such. Multiple emergencies can happen at once, and us three students were expected to handle everything. We were encouraged to enlist random bystanders to help with things like call for an ambulance whenever possible.

Having a cop in my class was a big help. He was really good at handling situations, especially on the shore. All three of us did a pretty good job at taking the lead though and communicating with each other. Lots of poo poo went to hell that day. The grand finale involved 7 actors at once and I don't even remember exactly how everyone was dying but it sure was taxing (and fun).

An example of one of the situations, which I think was sort of tailored to me. Us three students are in the water and someone from shore yells that a person is passed out up by the cars. We get up there and the symptoms/actions of the victim were pretty obviously heat exhaustion/stroke. The cop takes over brilliantly asking stuff like "are you on any medications" and other stuff that he deals with IRL all the time. At that very moment, two divers in tech gear surface and one is screaming. I tell the cop to handle the first dude and head back to the water.

Me and the other guy get to them. One diver is unconscious, while the other is in a half panicked state. I get to the conscious diver and get control of him from behind by grabbing his manifold and making sure his wing is inflated/etc. This guy is a GUE instructor and a spectacular diver so I have to give him an academy award for his performance because I can't see him panicking like that IRL. He was freaking out about his buddy, who apparently bolted from 110 feet (quarry ain't that deep). He wants to go check on him but I know the minute I let him go he's going to swim over and start freaking out and messing with the other student's job. He's giving me lines like "Oh my god oh poo poo it's all my fault he said he did not feel good today but I ignored him! Please let me go see him" and such. Long story short first guy was probably dead and my conscious diver developed decompression sickness symptoms because he bolted after the first guy.

The grand finale involved everyone, including one person playing the inconsolable spouse who jumps in to "help" us. I've already written enough about one of the simpler ones so I'll leave it here.

Overall I enjoyed the course a lot. Laughs were had, men were lost, and it's surprising how real a situation feels when everyone is acting out their role convincingly. I'm wavering on how useful it is. On one hand I'm probably a lot better now at dealing with a situation in a lake/quarry. It teaches you to stop, think, then act. I have my doubts about how much use some of the skills would be in rough seas. The rescue breaths while swimming an unconscious diver to shore seem nearly useless. It does do a good job of reminding you to delegate others to get EMS on scene and otherwise control a situation.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Mar 22, 2012

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
Bishop, Is it disturbing that I am worried about doing PADI IDC.. even though I am a full blown rebreather diver and PADI DM?

ZoCrowes
Nov 17, 2005

by Lowtax

SlicerDicer posted:

Bishop, Is it disturbing that I am worried about doing PADI IDC.. even though I am a full blown rebreather diver and PADI DM?

Not at all crazy. Being an experienced diver and being able to effectively teach diving are two very different things.

Trivia
Feb 8, 2006

I'm an obtuse man,
so I'll try to be oblique.
Man, that course sounds crazy but oddly fun / rewarding. Hopefully I can get some free time (and money) to do a proper course. The only problem being that I could spend time doing that, or spend MORE time underwater in some idyllic sea-garden.

Bishop
Aug 15, 2000

SlicerDicer posted:

Bishop, Is it disturbing that I am worried about doing PADI IDC.. even though I am a full blown rebreather diver and PADI DM?

ZoCrowes posted:

Not at all crazy. Being an experienced diver and being able to effectively teach diving are two very different things.
What he said. I'm taking DM so I can be around and teach new divers, hopefully while not sucking at it. I consider it a separate "branch" of my diving than my tech stuff. I've been at enough pool/quarry sessions with open water classes to see how rewarding teaching people can be. Plus MORE C-CARDS GIVE ME ALL THE C-CARDS.

Trivia posted:

Man, that course sounds crazy but oddly fun / rewarding.
Outside of open water I think it's the most useful PADI course I've taken. Your mileage may vary with how many and how crazy the staged emergency situations are. My class happened to have a lot of DMs and instructors that were there for other reasons on the final day, and of course they all wanted to get in on the action. I knew and had dove/taken classes with a lot of these guys so that may have contributed to them messing with us more. Maybe not though!

Bishop fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Mar 23, 2012

Azzip
Oct 22, 2006
Something really profound

Finch! posted:

Who did you do it with? I've spent a lot of time there - probably about six months in total - and I only have one place in mind to do it: Big Blue. I love that place.

Mmmm yeah it's an addictive little island isn't it, I spent almost four months there when I was doing the DM internship, and fully intend to return and spend some more time. Great memories like jumping off the morning boat after a couple of dives, cheesing it to the chicken and rice place opposite the ladyboy club, then via 7-11 for a bottle of sprite then back to the shop in time to snag a couple more dives on the afternoon boat for the days it was running. Or getting noodlesoup to go from the couple that run the stall outside the 7-11 next to BigBlue and taking that on the boat. I was based at Simple Life which is just behind Wind resort, so right next to where you'll be.

drat, even typing this makes me miss that place, need to get my poo poo sorted so I can head back there.

SgtScruffy
Dec 27, 2003

Babies.


Azzip posted:

Mmmm yeah it's an addictive little island isn't it, I spent almost four months there when I was doing the DM internship, and fully intend to return and spend some more time. Great memories like jumping off the morning boat after a couple of dives, cheesing it to the chicken and rice place opposite the ladyboy club, then via 7-11 for a bottle of sprite then back to the shop in time to snag a couple more dives on the afternoon boat for the days it was running. Or getting noodlesoup to go from the couple that run the stall outside the 7-11 next to BigBlue and taking that on the boat. I was based at Simple Life which is just behind Wind resort, so right next to where you'll be.

drat, even typing this makes me miss that place, need to get my poo poo sorted so I can head back there.

As someone who is considering doing a DM internship there, what's the level of "hey intern, clean the toilets in the store and be our bitch" to "live out your dream of just waking up and diving every day in a tropical paradise"?

Also, how cheap is it to live on that island? Is a good dinner like, $2 USD, or is it more resort-prices so it's actually regular cost?

IM FROM THE FUTURE
Dec 4, 2006

SgtScruffy posted:

As someone who is considering doing a DM internship there, what's the level of "hey intern, clean the toilets in the store and be our bitch" to "live out your dream of just waking up and diving every day in a tropical paradise"?

Also, how cheap is it to live on that island? Is a good dinner like, $2 USD, or is it more resort-prices so it's actually regular cost?

If someone told me I could work out some kind of deal where I could scurb toilets and be someones bitch during the night. In exchange for diving everyday, and a little bit of food and water. Id say: where do I sign up?

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

Azzip posted:

Mmmm yeah it's an addictive little island isn't it, I spent almost four months there when I was doing the DM internship, and fully intend to return and spend some more time. Great memories like jumping off the morning boat after a couple of dives, cheesing it to the chicken and rice place opposite the ladyboy club, then via 7-11 for a bottle of sprite then back to the shop in time to snag a couple more dives on the afternoon boat for the days it was running. Or getting noodlesoup to go from the couple that run the stall outside the 7-11 next to BigBlue and taking that on the boat. I was based at Simple Life which is just behind Wind resort, so right next to where you'll be.

drat, even typing this makes me miss that place, need to get my poo poo sorted so I can head back there.

It is addictive. I can't stop going there. I've been there once or twice a year for the past four... every time I go anywhere I try to work in a week or two for Koh Tao. This 18-ish month stretch - from July 2011 to December 2012 - will be the longest I haven't been there since I started going there :(

Despite being a huge tourist trap it's the kind of place that if I didn't have to work, or if I were "living the dream" and diving for a living, I'd spend six months of every year there. It's a vastly different place to live than it is to visit, and to my mind it's vastly better as a long term proposition.

The chicken rice place is awesome, and the noodle soup guys remember me! Way back in January last year I used to be a regular and tweaked my order - pork soup, yellow noodles, lots of crackling, LOTS of spring onion, and a few other things... I paid a little extra (like 10 baht extra) and it was awesome. Fast forward to July and I rocked up and they did it exactly how I liked it. Those guys are great.

There's also good eats from the 555 duck noodle (or duck soup? I can't remember the name) place, the grumpy lady who hangs out at the first 711 or in the vacant lot next to the pharmacy and grills the BEST chicken ever, late night pancakes from Ali , the new Mexican and pizza place opposite the orange travel agent is pretty good, Nid's, but not Tik (only place on the island to give me the shits). The pub that's in the old screening room does killer roast pork on Sundays and the chicken wings on half priced Thai food Fridays at Choppers are also very awesome... but not as awesome as the fried chicken from the fried chicken dude outside the 711 in Mae Had, though. I don't know how it's done but that is seriously the most awesome fried chicken ever. Better than any other TFC I've had.

I was last there in July but mostly out of the water due to a shoulder injury that I'm having surgery on this year. Hopefully I'll recover in time to head over there by December... I can't wait. It's my second home.


SgtScruffy posted:

As someone who is considering doing a DM internship there, what's the level of "hey intern, clean the toilets in the store and be our bitch" to "live out your dream of just waking up and diving every day in a tropical paradise"?

Also, how cheap is it to live on that island? Is a good dinner like, $2 USD, or is it more resort-prices so it's actually regular cost?

Depends on the shop. Some places are better than others but the most you'll have to do is help move tanks, clean gear, set up boats, help out in the shop, or whatever. No toilet cleaning or room service. In my experience - hanging around with trainees and instructors and dive masters over a long time - they have a ton of free time and really only do fun stuff. They all seem to hate the shop days because they're not in the water, but I can handle that every few weeks...!

It's cheap enough. Rent in an AWESOME house will be $500-ish per month (though maybe 1/5th of that if you're renting a room in a house at Pidangs or something), the noodle soup lady above is 40 baht, the special chicken rice from the chicken rice dude is 60, a beer will be anywhere from 40 baht to 150 baht depending on the beer and happy hour (but usually around 60 baht for a Singha outside happy hour), a pizza anywhere from 100 to 600 baht, an awesome meal at the now defunct Papas Tapas (it got ruined in the flood last May) was around $40 but that included wine, a case of warm Singha from the ice shop was about 500 baht, a pancake from Ali with lemon and sugar about 40, and there's usually free wifi everywhere.

It's more expensive than small town country mainland Thailand and probably more expensive than Bangkok but... it's an island with no resources and everything, even water to flush the shitter with, has to be shipped in.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

IM FROM THE FUTURE posted:

If someone told me I could work out some kind of deal where I could scurb toilets and be someones bitch during the night. In exchange for diving everyday, and a little bit of food and water. Id say: where do I sign up?

I would soon slit my wrists than do that, not to knock the dive shop I go with I love their service but they treat their employees like crap. They work long long hours, haul tanks to oblivion, stuff is rarely in order... its chaos and nobody gets compensated for it.

I feel sorry for them.. Rarely do they ever get to dive for fun :(

Azzip
Oct 22, 2006
Something really profound

Finch! posted:

Nid's, but not Tik (only place on the island to give me the shits). The pub that's in the old screening room does killer roast pork on Sundays

Ahhh Nids, yeah we would roll up there when a hard day's diving (awww poor us) called for a slap up meal - the Cordon Bleu for I think like 150 baht was just the greatest. Someone else mentioned getting a bad reaction from Tiks once I think, but it was on my regular rotation and I don't remember any problem so just luck of the draw I guess. Oh and the the Massaman curry from the place next to Zanzibar - I'd have to take a milkshake along because it is pretty hot, but holy poo poo it was awesome.

Which pub do you mean for the roast, don't think I ever tried that? I was there from June to Sept last year, so we were there at the same time though I spent as much time as I could out in the water. Arrived with 15 logged dives and left with 170 and there is still sooo much to learn and do.


SgtScruffy posted:

As someone who is considering doing a DM internship there, what's the level of "hey intern, clean the toilets in the store and be our bitch" to "live out your dream of just waking up and diving every day in a tropical paradise"?

Also, how cheap is it to live on that island? Is a good dinner like, $2 USD, or is it more resort-prices so it's actually regular cost?

As Finch says, your DMT experience is totally dependant on the diveshop and the way they do things - I imagine it would be very different at for example Bans which is a massive diver factory, to one of the smaller ones. That's not to say better or worse, but most places will probably be set in their ways.

To cover my experience, there were no shop days or anything since there was a dedicated shop manager so he seemed to take care of everything there. DMT's would help fit kit to customers, carry the regs and masks and any tanks that needed moving down to the longtail (our compressor was on the boat, so tanks were brought ashore only for maintenance or pool sessions). One DMT each trip would be in charge of the boat list, so they would dictate the number of regs and masks to bring, ensure that everyone who was supposed to be on the longtail was there, do the roll calls on the boat as required and ensure all the kit was returned at the end of the day. Even in that role it was usually possible to do both dives, unless the boat was really full in which case you would stay as surface cover, but that wasn't often necessary. After getting back, all DMT's would pitch in to wash and rinse all the gear, then it was time to decide which restaurant to hit for dinner.

Me and my DMT friends had plenty of chances to go exploring, and find sunken treasure:



So yeah expect to pay 60-200 baht per meal, and I was paying I think 9000 baht per month for an aircon room with ensuite hotwater shower, special rate for the diveshop I was with so def check with whoever you go with first for accommodation.

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

Azzip posted:

Ahhh Nids, yeah we would roll up there when a hard day's diving (awww poor us) called for a slap up meal - the Cordon Bleu for I think like 150 baht was just the greatest. Someone else mentioned getting a bad reaction from Tiks once I think, but it was on my regular rotation and I don't remember any problem so just luck of the draw I guess. Oh and the the Massaman curry from the place next to Zanzibar - I'd have to take a milkshake along because it is pretty hot, but holy poo poo it was awesome.

Which pub do you mean for the roast, don't think I ever tried that? I was there from June to Sept last year, so we were there at the same time though I spent as much time as I could out in the water. Arrived with 15 logged dives and left with 170 and there is still sooo much to learn and do.

Next to Zanzibar... the place that's basically a little stall under the eaves of the minimart or the actual restaurant place on the other side? I never ate there... but I'll definitely check it out when I head back. There's so much of Sairee I haven't explored or eaten, let alone the rest of the island.

The pub in the screening room is more or less opposite the intersection near Asia Divers. It was fairly new in late July - I have a feeling I may have been there for the opening party, though I can't remember exactly. It was pretty cool - it's an awesome little bar in a huge garden setting, kinda like MOOV in Mae Haad but more chilled out. And they do Sunday roasts.

Studebaker Hawk
May 22, 2004

With all this Koh Tao talk, any shop recommendations for first timer doing open water? I have a couple in mind based on various Internet reviews but am always interested in the goon recs

Finch!
Sep 11, 2001

Spatial Awareness?

[ ] Whaleshark

404 Not Found

Studebaker Hawk posted:

With all this Koh Tao talk, any shop recommendations for first timer doing open water? I have a couple in mind based on various Internet reviews but am always interested in the goon recs

:q:

I gotta sound like a broken record and I promise that aside from being a very happy customer I have absolutely no affiliation with them, though I've spent months diving with them and if they were to offer me a job I wouldn't say no...

... Big Blue, Koh Tao.

Seriously.

They're big but they're not a factory. Awesome gear, awesome boats, awesome instructors and dive masters and dive master trainees, sweet location, fun atmosphere, great staff - Burmese, whitey, Thai, they've been there forever, they're highly involved in the eco stuff, treat their workers well and although I don't have any friends who work there now I know that if I were to rock up tomorrow I'd be welcomed in to the family as though I'd never left, Even though everyone is new and I've only ever been a customer. I could go on but I've seen and experienced numerous things where Big Blue has left a great impression and I won't dive with anyone else on the island. They care - about their students, their staff, and the environment.

That said, there are plenty of great schools on Koh Tao and Big Blue is by no means the only one that you should consider. DJL, Simple Life, and Sairee Hut are the other guys on Sairee that you should look at. I can't think of any others I'd recommend, even though there are dozens more.

** Disclaimer: ~70 dives with Big Blue from open water to tech courses over four years. I'll become a dive master through them. Not, and never, employed by Big Blue but I'm a big fan.

macado
Jun 3, 2003

How to keep an idiot busy, Click here.
I didn't realize there was a new thread. I can answer any questions regarding diving in New England. That's where I do most of my local diving. I'm usually either shore diving or on a charter every weekend up here.

Since we've had an unusually warm winter; I've dove both wet and dry throughout the year. Water temperature is a bit warmer this time a year than usual so I think lobsters are going to migrate closer to coast soon. I've already been seeing them on shore dives in past few weekends that I've been out.

Recently, I got a new GoPro camera with BlurFix lens. Have a bunch of videos that I need to edit soon but I posted one of scallop diving in Boston Harbor if anyone is interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWf_UMPZ8W4

It was my first time ever taking video with the GoPro so it needs a little work.


Does anyone here dive vintage? My most recent obsession has been diving and restoring vintage double hose regulators.

Get lots of stares and people telling me I'm going to die when I dive sans BC, with a Aqualung Mistral double hose regulator, LP72 with J-valve and an oval mask.

Bishop
Aug 15, 2000

macado posted:

Does anyone here dive vintage? My most recent obsession has been diving and restoring vintage double hose regulators.
Glad you found us! Is vintage diving something I could do as a relatively cheap as a side hobby, assuming that I did most of the work myself? Is it the type of thing you can do by going to garage sales or buying cheap off eBay or is serviceable equipment more rare?

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
Some Poast Pictars, I hope you enjoy these :) This is Reef's End Molokini. Sadly I missed the Great White that showed up.















macado
Jun 3, 2003

How to keep an idiot busy, Click here.

Bishop posted:

Glad you found us! Is vintage diving something I could do as a relatively cheap as a side hobby, assuming that I did most of the work myself? Is it the type of thing you can do by going to garage sales or buying cheap off eBay or is serviceable equipment more rare?


Yes and no...with the recent reproduction of serviceable parts, especially in the past 5 years, the prices of double hose regulators has skyrocketed on eBay. Stuff that might have been $50-75 , is now averaging $100-175, with some fools paying up to 300 dollars for a non-restored double hose regulator.

There are of course, restored or rare models that can fetch much higher prices but I probably wouldn't pay more than $150 for a double hose regulator, and even less depending on the condition.

You can still find very good deals however, check craigslist, yard sales and even old dive shops throwing stuff away who are ignorant.

I have to say, I'm not really an expert but I will be happy to answer any questions and point you in the right direction. There are some really knowledgeable people out there who have formed an entire community dedicated to restoring old vintage scuba gear and dispelling the ignorance of most dive shops that this gear is unsafe. (It's not, it just fell out of style).

Almost any Aqualung or Voit double regulator can be rebuilt with newer parts, and due to the advances in materials (better HP seats, silicone diaphragms versus rubber, replacement first stages) will often produce a better performing regulator than when they originally existed.

It's very easy to learn to service vintage gear. The simplest and easiest regulator to service is the Aqualung Mistral. I'd always recommend people start here. They breath pretty well considering their simplicity and are very easy to learn.

You can't mess it up, it's one spring, a HP seat and one o-ring. It is a single stage unbalanced design that reduces the tank pressure in one stage. (E.G. there is no way to gauge IP on this regulator).

The only downside to this regulator is it does not like HP tanks. I wouldn't use it with anything higher than 3000psi. An AL80 is perfectly fine though but may damage HP seat over time.

They were designed for LP steel tanks at the time with tank pressures were rarely higher than 2250psi.

Since it is unbalanced, the lower the tank pressure, the better the regulator will breath. At about 1500-2000psi the Mistral breathes beautifully. The higher the tank pressure, the greater the force on the HP seat, pushing against the lever thus the harder it is to breath. (I hope I am saying that correctly.)

The Mistral is about as vintage as you can get it and was meant to be dove without BCD, no pressure gauge with a standard backplate and tank with a J-valve.

Since there is no intermediate pressure, there are no LP ports nor is there a HP port however you can attach an SPG with something called a banjo adapter. The banjo adapter works in conjunction with a long yoke and sandwiches between the regulator's yoke fitting and the valve and will give you a place to attach a pressure gauge.

I've had a Mistral down to 90ft on more than several occasions in Cozumel and frequently dive it here shore diving up in New England.

The next easiest models to rebuild would probably be the DA Aquamaster and the Royal Aquamaster. These are two-stage regulators (the Royal has a balanced first stage so it's not affected by tank pressure). They both have a hooka port that can easily be converted to a LP port.

The advantage of this is would be the ability to use LP accessories like inflators, second stages for redundancy and a drysuit inflator. I commonly dive one with an LP port splitter so that I can attach a secondary stage and an inflator for my drysuit.


The best place to look first would be vintagedoublehose.com. The owner, Bryan is based in Florida and services and sells parts for most US Divers/Aqualung and Voit double hose regulators. There is also a thriving forum with people who have forgotten more than I've ever known about regulators.

I will say one other thing. Don't rush into buying a double hose regulator first unless you can get it at really good price and do some research first. It can be very difficult to find replacement parts for regulators other than ones made by US Divers/Aqualung and Voit. It's also very addicting, I started off with one regulator and now I own 4 double hose regulators.

Here's a picture of me diving a Voit Trieste double hose regulator in Cozumel.


Before


After


Aqualung Mistral



macado fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Mar 27, 2012

Kaal
May 22, 2002

through thousands of posts in D&D over a decade, I now believe I know what I'm talking about. if I post forcefully and confidently, I can convince others that is true. no one sees through my facade.
That is so cool. You look like a guy out of James Bond.

IM FROM THE FUTURE
Dec 4, 2006

macado posted:




Awesome pics. Do you find the double hose to be more comfortable? Im guessing the bubbles behind you are pretty nice.

That plastic backplate brings back some awesome memories haha. Is it usdivers? My dad taught me how to scuba dive on one of those and an old single hose us divers reg when I was a kid. No bc or spg. I prefer my gear a little more complex now, but I love me some bp/w and harness.

edit* meant us divers not scubapro

IM FROM THE FUTURE fucked around with this message at 03:05 on Mar 27, 2012

macado
Jun 3, 2003

How to keep an idiot busy, Click here.

IM FROM THE FUTURE posted:

Awesome pics. Do you find the double hose to be comfortable?

That plastic backplate brings back some awesome memories haha Is it scubapro? My dad taught me how to scuba dive on one of those and an old single hose scubapro reg when I was a kid. No bc or spg. I prefer my gear a little more complex now, but I love me some bp/w and harness.

I find them to be very comfortable. Since the hoses are slightly buoyant/neutral, mouthpiece just rests naturally and causes virtually no jaw fatigue.

One negative about double hose regulators is that they are very position dependent in the water column, even breathing slightly wet or harder in certain positions. A lot of modern BCDs and modern backplates unfortunately place the double hose regulators cans too high and too far off your back which really diminishes breathing performance.

For optimal performance the cans of the double hose regulator should be as close to your back as possible (even touching your back) and between your shoulder blades. This minimizes the differential pressure from the diaphragm to your lungs. Modern regulators are usually placed much higher on the back.

The backpack is a USD Divers (late 60s/early 70s). I forget the model. Even this backpack places the regulator a little too high but it is much better than a modern backplate.


A few other advantages of diving vintage with a double hose regulators

1. Exhaust bubbles are behind you. This means you can often get much closer to wild life since it's not scared by your bubbles. Photographers will also appreciate not having exhaust bubbles in their viewfinder or photographs.

2. Environmentally sealed, by default. Double hose regulators are fantastic for cold water or ice diving. Since they're essentially environmentally sealed by design. None of the first stage or second stage comes in contact with water. I would put a properly serviced and tuned double hose regulator against any modern single hose regulator under the ice any day.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
ever thought of using cooper hoses for reduced breathing resistance macado?

macado
Jun 3, 2003

How to keep an idiot busy, Click here.

SlicerDicer posted:

ever thought of using cooper hoses for reduced breathing resistance macado?

Since I'm not experienced with rebreathers I didn't know what these were until I looked them up. Very pricey but look nice/interesting. Seems like the smooth bore inside can reduce work of breathing effort but I'm not sure how much it would help with double hose regulators.

First problem would be hose diameter. Double hose regulators use hoses that are 1" and 1 1/2" on each side so I'd have to find away to attach them to the cans somewhere.

A lot of double hose regulators have a venturi nozzle pointed directly down the intake side hose that can produce a strong venturi assist so airflow can be somewhat good. I'm not sure if rebreathers have an equivalent?

I'm not an engineer so I'm not sure how much (if any, noticeable performance would be gained) with smooth hoses.

Aqualung also tried to re-introduce a double hose regulator I think in 2004 or 2005 and hastily reproduced a new model Mistral (based on Titan first stage) but used regular rebreather hoses. It was poorly designed and was actually known for being a terrible breather. The hoses were very positively buoyant (I don't know if this is an issue with all rebreather hoses?) so most people ended up putting hose weights on their hoses to counteract the positive buoyancy of the hoses.

I believe the hoses used for double hose regulators are much less buoyant due to their smaller diameter.

Some properly tuned double hose regulators can have .5" inches of cracking pressure and will breath just as well as a modern regulator.

For the price of those hoses and current performance of some double hose regulators I'd probably say it's not worth it but I'm not sure.

macado fucked around with this message at 04:22 on Mar 27, 2012

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

macado posted:

Since I'm not experienced with rebreathers I didn't know what these were until I looked them up. Very pricey but look nice/interesting. Seems like the smooth bore inside can reduce work of breathing effort but I'm not sure how much it would help with double hose regulators.


That is one of the reasons of the cooper hose is the reduced work of breathing. At any rate I thought you would find it interesting had you not heard of them. I have no idea how much it would help in your case however.

I know they keep trying to find ways to exhaust the bubbles better though as stated before. I generally think they all fail may as well blow them in the face.

Bishop
Aug 15, 2000

SlicerDicer posted:

Some Poast Pictars, I hope you enjoy these :)
These are great. You've got a good knack for the macro stuff.

Cool stuff macado... I did know there was a whole vintage community out there. They have a subforum at scubaboard which I'm sure you know. I've never encounterd a vintage diver "in the wild" though. I was hoping it would be a little cheaper because it seems like a cool side project. Between the constant process of upgrading my tech rig and doing divemaster, I just don't have the cash to even spend that much. Maybe I'll hit up some garage/yard sells and get lucky.

Edit: Wait! You have two loving computers on in that pic. A True Vintage Diver would use a watch and a mechanical depth gauge. Shameful poo poo. Seriously though that rig looks pimp as hell. Also nice trim and fin positioning. *hands you GUE pamphlet*

Bishop fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Mar 27, 2012

Bishop
Aug 15, 2000
Double post because THIS IS MY THREAD AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT (see yall after the probation). I helped out with a discover SCUBA session last night and it was a great experience. I could not be in the water, either for liability reasons (not a DM yet) or because they don't trust me. It was all college students who had never tried SCUBA before. After an instructor gave what was at the most a 10 minute primer, we got them all the right size BCs and into the pool they went.

There were maybe 20 total people that showed up. Each DM had about 6 new divers to take care of, and they did some basic stuff like mask clearing and regulator removal/replace. Besides being a gear grunt, I just helped as much as I could from the surface. I did help a semi-panicked girl remember how to inflate her BC. In five feet of pool water.

Everyone from the frat boys to the quiet foreign students that showed up seemed to have a great time and if a couple of them sign up for an open water class the shop makes money. Considering that all the DMs and people like me were working for free, I think it's a great business model plus people love the first time they breathe underwater, even if it is in a pool.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE
That is odd that you couldnt be in water? But that is the way it goes I guess? I am a certified DM so I can do what I want like you can with this thread!!! FUUU Rules! ohh wait :)

And thanks for the complements on the photos

Crunkjuice
Apr 4, 2007

That could've gotten in my eye!
*launches teargas at unarmed protestors*

I THINK OAKLAND PD'S USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE WAS JUSTIFIED!

Bishop posted:

I could not be in the water, either for liability reasons (not a DM yet) or because they don't trust me.
Its a liability thing. Once you complete the PADI bookwork/exams, you're then able to work with students under the direct supervision of an instructor.

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004

Crunkjuice posted:

Its a liability thing. Once you complete the PADI bookwork/exams, you're then able to work with students under the direct supervision of an instructor.

That sounds right, we had an assistant in my OW course who was working on DM and had done the bookwork, he just needed the experience and more dives to get the certification.

Bishop
Aug 15, 2000
Heh yeah I knew it was mainly a liability thing I was just being sarcastic. We were overstaffed anyways... two instructors just hung out without getting in the water too.

Bangkero
Dec 28, 2005

I baptize thee
not in the name of the father
but in the name of the devil.

macado posted:

double hose talk

Sup, double hose buddy! :) It's awesome knowing there's another vintage equipment diver goon around. Bought my first double hose (a Royal Aquamaster ca. 1964) from VDH in 2007 and have never look backed.

Finally got my second double hose regulator in January - a DA Aquamaster ca. 1958-9 for $80 off ebay. My intention for this one was to buy and install one of the upcoming new PRAMs but the DAAM turns out to be in mint condition, so I'm having second thoughts about going through with it!

macado
Jun 3, 2003

How to keep an idiot busy, Click here.

Bishop posted:


Edit: Wait! You have two loving computers on in that pic. A True Vintage Diver would use a watch and a mechanical depth gauge. Shameful poo poo. Seriously though that rig looks pimp as hell. Also nice trim and fin positioning. *hands you GUE pamphlet*

Haha you're right. I'm not exactly true vintage. Some of the vintage guys always let me know that. There are different styles in the vintage community. Some people who dive completely vintage with no modern gear and then there are people like me who like using the advances in technology and will gladly dive both. I still prefer to dive with computers and a wing with my vintage gear. I do have tanks with J-valves but I still usually dive with an SPG.

In warm water diving, I don't mind diving without a BCD but up in Boston it can be a pain due to suit compression depending on the depth I'm at.

I will say this though, if you can find a cheap Aqualung Mistral or DA Aquamaster double hose regulator, grab it. It's a really fun project to rebuild and it can be cheap if you plan it right. If you've never rebuilt a regulator before it's a good place to start to learn, or if you're experienced with servicing regulators it will be an eye opener to how much gear really hasn't changed at all. Royal Aquamaster is essentially the precursor to all modern Conshelf/Titan first stages.


In regards to GUE comment, haha but no thanks. I definitely see the value in their training but I've met way too many DIR douchebags whom have completely turned me off to the thought of any training with GUE. I'm talking newly minted 75-100 dive fundies graduates telling seasoned old salts with wetsuits that have more experience than them that they're going to die but they're not using a wing or that their fins aren't appropriate.

I know it's not nearly as bad as it was 5 years ago and most GUE people have seemed to tone down their act quite a bit. I remember they used to have a very bad image.

I dive a completely hogarthian setup when I'm not diving vintage gear, with with 7ft long hose, etc so most of my rigs are configured that same as GUE/DIR advocates.

I've only taken as far as Intro to Cave but I definitely always like to try to keep good trim and use good finning techniques.

I'm only just beginning to ultimately gain more technical training and experience. I'm not "officially" certificated for deco but that hasnt stopped me from using US Navy tables for short deco stops on a few occasions.

I'm hoping to take Advanced Nitrox/Deco Procedures this year sometime.

macado
Jun 3, 2003

How to keep an idiot busy, Click here.

Bangkero posted:

Sup, double hose buddy! :) It's awesome knowing there's another vintage equipment diver goon around. Bought my first double hose (a Royal Aquamaster ca. 1964) from VDH in 2007 and have never look backed.

Finally got my second double hose regulator in January - a DA Aquamaster ca. 1958-9 for $80 off ebay. My intention for this one was to buy and install one of the upcoming new PRAMs but the DAAM turns out to be in mint condition, so I'm having second thoughts about going through with it!


Nice! Did you see VHD's new second stage replacement for DA Aquamaster/Royal Aquamaster? It's not released yet but they posted pictures of it. It's designed to work in conjunction with the Phoenix but can also be used without one.

It supposedly works much better than the existing 2nd stages found in the Royals or DA Aquamasters. It also uses a single stage diaphragm so you dont need to align the horseshoe lever anymore.


I've currently got 4 double hose projects in progress right now. I am rebuilding a Royal Aquamaster and Mistral for friends. Plus, I have another DA Aquamaster and Voit Trieste I am rebuilding for myself. It's addicting..

Bangkero
Dec 28, 2005

I baptize thee
not in the name of the father
but in the name of the devil.
yep saw the new 2nd stage. Looks slick as hell and for only $50 I might just pick one up.

Have fun with your rebuilds! I think that's one of the best things I took away from double hose diving - learning how to service and rebuild my own regulator. Awesome that you have friends into vintage. All I got is my brother and sister-in-law who are newly certified and all :aaaaa: that I dive without a BC!

Bishop
Aug 15, 2000
Heh I can't believe we have *multiple* goons into vintage diving. That pretty much completes the spectrum of diving. Owns.

Macado the GUE joke was a play off the (often true) stereotype. I might be the only guy with a GUE cert ITT and say what you will, but they make you great overhead environment divers. The key is to not think the DIR way is the only way.

Bishop fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Mar 27, 2012

rockcity
Jan 16, 2004
I'm not a vintage diver, but I do own a 30+ year old Aqualung/US Divers Conshelf regulator. I've only dove with it in a pool just to test it out, but it works just fine. It was my dad's for many many years and he gave it to me when he had to stop diving. Before I ever took it out on a real dive I ended up getting a steal on a Cressi MC5 so the old Conshelf is just hanging around the house.

rockcity fucked around with this message at 01:23 on Mar 28, 2012

egyptian rat race
Jul 13, 2007

Lowtax Spine Fund 2019
Ultra Carp

Bishop posted:

The key is to not think the DIR way is the only way.

Yep. The problem is, some of their divers make the assertion that because they are "Doing It Right" then I must be doing it wrong.

SlicerDicer
Oct 31, 2010

PAILOLO CHANNEL

East gales to 35 kt. Wind waves 17 ft. Scattered showers.

Its time to DIVE

Diver Dick posted:

Yep. The problem is, some of their divers make the assertion that because they are "Doing It Right" then I must be doing it wrong.

I do about 80% of DIR but some other things I flat out disagree with and do my own thing. I think DIR is what you make it and have valid reasons for yes/no etc. If you can justify what you do and it makes sense and makes you SAFER then that is what I consider Doing it Right!

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Azzip
Oct 22, 2006
Something really profound

Finch! posted:

Next to Zanzibar... the place that's basically a little stall under the eaves of the minimart or the actual restaurant place on the other side?

...it's an awesome little bar in a huge garden setting, kinda like MOOV in Mae Haad but more

Yeah, so you've got the supermarket place, then kind of a covered gap, then this place I'm on about (we just called it the Massaman curry place) and then Zanzibar. Check it out. Also the place just past the gas station if you're heading towards Mae Haad with the fruit stall outside during the day. Nothing fancy, just good decent food for a good price and the owners are friendly and helpful.

As for the other place I think I know where you mean now, though never heard it called that (or anything for that matter). If it's where I think it is, there was a new vegetable juice bar type place just opened on part of the patio area just to the side.

Studebaker Hawk posted:

With all this Koh Tao talk, any shop recommendations for first timer doing open water? I have a couple in mind based on various Internet reviews but am always interested in the goon recs

Finch already covered some of this but let us know which ones are on your shortlist and we can let you know what we've heard about them. It's likely that Ban's has appeared a lot in your searches - they are the biggest and busiest. That means they have experienced staff because of the volume of people and will have tried and tested procedures for teaching, gear servicing and that sort of thing - such a large machine can't survive without them. Those will work in your favour however the downside is that classes will be large - they make use of the PADI ratio limits (number of instructors/DM's to customers) and this I can confirm from experience... the sight of a Bans capital ship turning up at a dive site then then watching a dozen people doing a conga down the mooring line always made me grin. This means if you or someone needs a little extra TLC with some aspect (equalising, mask clearing etc) then you might get a little less individual attention than if you were with a dive school that takes 2-6 sized groups. Then again they probably have good experienced DM's who will take you aside and help out with that so swings and roundabouts really. Just try and work out what sort of learning environment is right for you.

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